I was a prepubescent fan of Adam Ant long before I discovered Prince. This week (in the UK) there was a fascinating documentary on Adam Ant talking about his success and his mental illness. The similarities between the two artist is amazing...he even dated Vanity!!!

Anybody agree?

Yeah kinda the same except the talent part???

Yeah, I agree, I think I meant to say visually, the facial expressions, the pouts, the eyes, the clothes,...I guess I'm just a sucker for a man in make-up.

col said:

I was a big ants fan too before i got into Prince.Adam made some great records, Kings of the Wild Frontier is an excellant album.

i saw alot of Prince in Adam too.The ribbons in the hair just had me thinking SOTT.

Andre Cymone told Adam in '89 how much him AND Prince were a fan of 'Ant Rap', so he was listening and probably looking too.

Did U see the documentary...a very sad story...mental illness seems like a killer of ones personality.

col said:

yes i did, i immediately got my 'Antbox' boxset out to play afterwards, funny, as a kid i had no idea my first hero had these problems, i hope he comes out of the other side.

I guess his illness will always be there though.

I love Adam and the ants. I'm really pissed off, I missed that documentary!

I'm yet another 'first Adam, now Prince' fan.

I have a biography of Adam's which I bought at the height of his fame. It talked of his depression when the original Ants left him to form Bow Wow Wow. He attempted suicide during that time. As sad as it is to see his deterioration recently, he has been battling depression for a very long time.

I wish I'd caught the documentary...

Max

Igo2DaMax said:

Hope you're well.

It was sad, Max. Essentially his depressions are averted when he is abosrbed by work, so the period of fame, although a whirlwind, was one that kept him occupied - but you can imagine the impact the period when he started to fall out of popularity had on him. The making fo the documentary, in itself, probably gave him something to focus on, but he seemed to be aware that it wasn't properly adressing the root cause of his problem - and it mentioned how he has had to be hospitalised again since the making of the show.

Wish I'd thought about it and recorded it. If I see a repeat mentioned in the near future I'll try to let you know.

I KNOW ADAM ANTS EX WIFE (LORRAINE) AND DAUGHTER LILY. TOOK THEM TO LONDON ZOO. WHAT AN AMAZING CHILD. SO LOVABLE. SHE DREW ME A PICTURE OF ME IN PURPLE NO LESS.

The records with the Ants that Adam did are my absolute favorites, and still get plenty of stereo time. My friends always thought I was nuts 'cause I dug them and Bow Wow Wow so much back in the day.

Loved Adam back in the 80's. Remeber when Prince Charming was on MTV all the time?? Don't hear anything about him anymore in the USA. The last photo I saw of him was pretty shocking. Time does march on! Sorry to hear he's mentally ill. What is wrong? Bipolar? Schizophrenic or severe depression? I hate to think of him that way.

he's actually quite a revolutionary and very interesting man. he has a medical condition.it's amazing how many people just dont get it. he is still very cretive.

positivity said:

Bipolar, i think otherwise known as manic depression.

he was and still is fucking great!

I am another huge Adam Ant and Prince fan. The thing I liked about both of them was, at the height of their fame, they released alot of great B sides. Wish they both put out music that mattered, but those days are gone.

I've seen the similarities between Prince & Adam for a bit actually. Both had the ruffuled pirate shirts with the collats off. Then both of them had the tendency to take the shirts off and get even more wilder.

New Wave Forever!!!

For me, it's in the eyes too...and the mouth, with extra lipgloss. I hope that's where the similarity stops though...If Prince were to stop making music do you think he would go barmy too?

Adam Ant was da sh@ back in the day. I wish he would kept his style after the Ants left. He seemed 2 be tryin 2 be a 'pop'artist ...when he started as a punk-new wave musician. depression may have been the reason. I didn't know he had this problem. God bless u Adam...stay strong...we love u

col said:

Umm...like he hasn't already?